Talking of Wizard, their readers talk about decompression:
“A lot of these stories can be told in three issues instead of six, without this focus on characterization. Then comics become the equivalent of a video game. Small villan in issue one, leads to bigger villan in issue two, leads to the ‘big boss’ in issue three. Charcters should always come before plot. With decompressed storytelling, that’s where the emphasis is. I don’t think it’s a rip-off if done properly… I think you’re actually getter more bang for your buck.”
“Decompression allows a creator to do things like write a conversation between a young Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson that actually reads like a conversation two teenagers would have - awkward pauses and repetitive phrases included. It also allows for things like spending 44 pages building up to the arrival of a dangerous supervillain - during which suspense, horror, and dread can be built up in the reader - rather than a page or a few panels that might not convey much of anything. It also allows writers and artists greater freedom with which to express action through image rather than word; if you know you have a hundred pages to work with, you can afford to spend a couple of them watching Spider-Man swing around/look sad/get angry/whatever.”
“The opposite of Decompression as a storytelling method assumes you know what is relevant and you care about the character already, therefore no further effort in those directions need be given. But what if we open up the next Mighty Avengers and decide we don’t really care what happens to Ms. Marvel? Perhaps some ‘decompression’ (or is that just a little storytelling attention) is necessary to fill in Ms. Danvers personality.”
Sadly, no-one apparently wrote in that “Bendis sux”.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:22 pm
“We want a good magazine, but we want it spread over a few years’ worth of issues. Please fill out the time with cool decompressed material, such as pie jokes. And boobs. Thank you.
Signed,
The Fans”
August 1st, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Yeah we want character fleshed out! Like a NINE PAGE PLANE CRASH! That’s character development for ya!
August 1st, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Isn’t this just a matter of pacing more than anything else? Knowing when to drag something out, or to have the comic equivalent of a break-neck flow.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:45 pm
if you know you have a hundred pages to work with
But you don’t. You have twenty-two or twenty-four or whatever a single issue consists of. I don’t care if the story last over ten issues–I’m only reading this one now and I want something more than five minutes reading for my three clams.
If you’re writing for the trade, you should be writing a trade.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:01 am
“NINE PAGE PLANE CRASH! ”
Yeah, god forbid a plane crash actually be dramatic and scary. That sequence actually made a plane crash significant. Yeah our heroes were going to survive, but its interesting to see them in danger and suffer instead of it being done in one panel and everyone walking away.
I think this is very much an old fan new fan argument.
August 2nd, 2007 at 1:04 am
“Isn’t this just a matter of pacing more than anything else? Knowing when to drag something out, or to have the comic equivalent of a break-neck flow.”
That’s basically my opinion. A long, involved conversation can actually be *tons* of content. Perhaps The characters are trying to accomplish something in the conversation, perhaps they go through a lot emotionally, perhaps there are several surprises and revelations. That kind of thing is very detailed and decompressed, but is completely different than the nine page plane crash.
Decompression isn’t about “liking it slow.” It’s about giving enough detail about the characters that the action seems worth it. Is a particular comic full of useless pie jokes? That’s bad pacing and wasted time, not decompression.
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:07 am
Bendis sucks.
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:38 am
Mike Thompson sucks
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:42 am
I don’t think anyone’s arguing that you can’t find interesting ways to tell your story… but taking 6 issues for the JLA to come together & actually fight the villain? A JLA/JSA team-up where they mostly just stand around & discuss their continuity? That’s just pathetic.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I agree with Bully. For my $3, I want a significant part of a story, not a setup for a story that’s coming soon. A comic needs to be urgent and compelling from the first issue or I’m not coming back.
Bendis is usually good, but a six issue arc about the Gladiator that takes place mostly in flashbacks is waste. The story was just not important enough to justify six months worth of story. So, that year, we got 2 Daredevil stories.